A small book about dogs in the armies has been published in the United States. On the cover, Fitas, a dog from the French 132nd BCAT (Canine Battalion of the Army) of Suippes (a unit whose dogs and dog handlers dragged their feet in every corner of Kapisa and Surobi). This book tells his story, as well as other dogs from the British and American armies.

The blog OPEX360 told his adventure last year shortly after his death: Fitas, a malinois, had helped to thwart an ambush in Kapisa as he opened the course of a battle group in flushing out fifteen insurgents hidden into a house. Unfortunately, the poor had been captured during this operation. Held for four months by the rebels, Fitas was finally found in August 20, 2011, after he escaped. But apparently he had been ill-treated during his captivity and he had an injured leg. Awarded for bravery with the gold medal of National Defence with silver star and horored with a citation attributed by General Ract-Madoux, Chief of Staff of the Army, Fitas finally died on April 17, 2012.

I am sure many of you have seen the German Movie "Das Boot" (The Boat).
If you haven't it is a must see in my opinion, try to see the director's cut.

But of course it is originally a book by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. The story itself didn't actually happen but the author has been on several patrols and everything that happens on Das Boot are things he actually experienced during the war. I can really recommend this book. As a side note: I also play Silent Hunter 3 with the GWX mod.

The thrilling wartime novel that inspired Wolfgang Petersen's Academy Award-nominated, blockbuster film! Written by an actual survivor of Germany's U-boat fleet, Das Boot is one of the most exciting stories of naval warfare ever published, a tale filled with almost unbearable tension and suspense. In autumn 1941, a German U-boat commander and his crew set out on yet another hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Over the coming weeks they brave the ocean's stormy waters and seek out British supply ships to destroy. But their targets travel in well-guarded convoys. When contact finally occurs, the hunter quickly becomes the hunted, and a cat-and-mouse game begins as the U-boat hides deep beneath the surface of the sea. Soon, claustrophobia becomes an enemy almost as frightening as the depth charges exploding around them.

An autobiographical book, released in September 2013, the course of "Marius", legend of French naval commandos...

Little thug of Marseille for whom life could go wrong... Easy money, little thefts, custody... The click, one day, with a policeman from Marseille... To leave, to be forgotten, Marius will choose... Lorient, and the green berets of the Navy... The respect, the righteousness, the integrity... A kind of redemption, a second birth...

After twenty years in the French special forces, Marius tells...

"Never show the weakness to anybody. The fact of showing a single weakness to somebody, the person will rush inside."